Uncle Lucius: The Light

Impressive fourth from hard-travelled Texans.

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There’s something commendably old-school about Uncle Lucius. Holding close to the tenets of southern rock, the Austin quintet offer a mostly unreconstructed take on classic American roots music. It is, after all, clearly what they do best.

This is the kind of insouciant bluster that only comes through a decade of diligent roadwork, locking into grooves on cue and meshing roughhouse guitar and piano into an edifying country-rock hybrid. Gulf Coast Gypsies may carry an echo of modern types like Sons Of Bill, but Uncle Lucius sound altogether meaner.

Frontman Kevin Galloway has a sandpaper-ish quality to his voice, bringing added edge to the title track and the Memphis R&B of Age Of Reason, which feels like it might’ve been recorded in an old bordello. Meanwhile, there’s a whiff of Blackberry Smoke about the marauding End Of 118, offset by the more reflective Tom Petty-isms of Someday Is A Far Cry.

Rob Hughes

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2008, and sister title Prog since its inception in 2009. Regular contributor to Uncut magazine for over 20 years. Other clients include Word magazine, Record Collector, The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Telegraph and When Saturday Comes. Alongside Marc Riley, co-presenter of long-running A-Z Of David Bowie podcast. Also appears twice a week on Riley’s BBC6 radio show, rifling through old copies of the NME and Melody Maker in the Parallel Universe slot. Designed Aston Villa’s kit during a previous life as a sportswear designer. Geezer Butler told him he loved the all-black away strip.